Gibb River Road and Gorges etc

The GRR is generally a bitch of a road to drive--and that's without towing. If your present car "just" has towing capacity, I suggest something like a good used Mazda BT 50 Reliable big car which has been deemed a "true" 3-tonne tow vehicle. Something around 2013-4 may fit your finances and can be sold off later. Extra weight of fuel containers, water, extra tyres, etc. etc. always have to be incorporated in your plans. Haven't been along there for several years but another suggestion is getting a fair idea on how much fuel you THINK you need and then carry an extra 25-30 % for the side-track deviations/sightseeing and towing weight. Hopefully, others will also put forward ideas. Good luck. Some great sights but beware of the conditions. Contact Derby and Kununurra Councils for road conditions very close to the time you will be reaching the area. One last thing. I have heard that most, if not all, camping spots in the north of Aust. are pretty-well booked out at present so be prepared for that, presuming you are travelling sometime soonish.

Phil
Maybe it would be a good idea to learn how the AWD is really front wheel drive until the system detects sufficient anomalies to connect the rear axle to the front drive system. SO really a two wheel drive until.
It may not be the weight of the towed camper but the ball weight which will reduce the rear wheel upward travel clearance and could be a problem is asked to negotiate heavy corrugations with less travel than designed, all while handling the mass of the towed item. Most vehicles asked to do heavy work require better performance shock absorbers than the ability of std ON road ones. It could survive, ie, in the Round Aus rally many many years ago, a Peugeot 504 ran all the way with OE suspension, no failures, the 3 Oldhens/Commodores used 1 set of front suspension each for every of the 13 days. Yes, 39 sets of front end to ensure reliability. Speed of travel will be a factor.

Hi Phil,

You could do the Gibb River Road in a two wheel drive, many of the locals do, however, their vehicles are generally pretty well “stuffed”. I suspect that the corrugations will be pretty bad given the expected number of vehicles that will be travelling the road this year. As RMD has already noted, an AWD is not a “true” 4WD, and dose not have the same strength in the suspension as true high ground clearance 4WD. If you intend selling afterwards, even a secondhand 100 series Landcruiser may be a good choice. Parts for these are still readily available if needed.

I would equally be worried about a “superlite” camper trailer. It actually may not be strong enough regardless of the so called “Off Road” label. The Kalumburu Road and the Mitchell Falls Road are renowned for breaking trailers.

Macca.

Hi Phil, I drove a section of the GRR on Saturday (19th), in a Suburu Forrester hire car. 1st section up to the Fairfield Leopold Downs Rd is bitumen except for a 8km section which was a doddle. We only went as far as Tunnel Creek and back but that 55km was again in good nick with minimal corrugations.

BTW the water level currently in Tunnel Creek is high and you need to either swim or if tall enough its a chin high walk through the water to get to the other end.

I'd give the various stations and road houses a call just before you leave to get road conditions as of that date. Things change virtually by the day. As is always the case drive to the conditions. The corrugations are annoying but it will be the stones that can give you more grief if you have the wrong tyres. I'd be upgrading your tyres to A/T at the very least and have a talk to a good suspension company regarding your cars suspension.

Look at a new or 2nd had Pajero as a tow vehicle option, very comfortable, and inexpensive, and also the Broome & Kununurra Hire companies use them a lot.

Enjoy the trip.

Thank you all for the great replies. I was wondering what kind of responses I would get to what was a silly question. CX-5 and GRR just don't belong in the same sentence:-).

Not sure when we are doing this as it depends on my Wife's work, so that will give Narelle and I time to get some research done on all of the information we have been given.

Thanks again,
Phillip Wynter